Behind The Masks
by Nadja Lee
Summary: Scott voices his concerns to Rogue about her relationship with Logan only to find he’s worrying for the wrong person.


Behind The Masks

By Nadja Lee                                     05/04/02

English is not my native language. Please forgive me my mistakes.

Disclaimer: "X-men" and all the characters here belong to Marvel, 20 Century Fox and I intend no infringement, this is a piece of amateur fan fiction, and I make no money of it.

Only the original idea contained within this work is the property of the author. Please do not copy this story to any website or archive without permission of the author.

Timeline: Set in the movie universe. After the movie

Universe: Set in the movie universe; NOT the book which goes with it.

Romance: Logan/Rogue, Scott/Jean, Scott/Rogue

Summary: Scott voices his concerns to Rogue about her relationship with Logan only to find he's worrying for the wrong person.

Archiving: Want, ASK, take,  have.

Feedback: Yes, please. My e-mail address is nadjalee2000@hotmail.com 

Rating: R

Sequel/series: None

This is Sorcieré's plot bunny. To you are the power and glory, forever and ever *LOL* Lov' you, babe!

Part 1:

There was a knock on the door and Scott looked up from the papers he had been reading.

"Come in," he said and saw the door open to reveal Rogue.  He was a bit taken back by her appearance. She wore black leather pants, a t-shirt with the words 'up yours' written across her chest, long black boots and long black gloves. To top it off her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail with a black band and she was chewing a piece of gum, looking bored and very uninterested in anything he might say. Must be the sorrow over seeing Logan leave yesterday or the after-effects of the Logan in her, Scott figured but wasn't entirely sure. 

"So, what do you want?" Rogue asked as she with a self-confidence he hadn't seen in her before walked across the room and dumped into the chair in front of his desk.

"Well, now that Logan has left I just wanted to……Well, be sure you're alright," Scott admitted though found it hard to feel concern for the girl in front of her. She reminded him of his time before he had met Xavier; not a girl but a young woman quite capable of taking care of herself.

"You afraid he has raped me or something?" she asked bluntly. Scott looked shocked at her. The Rogue Logan had seen, the Rogue she had been up till yesterday would never have used such a language.

"Something like it," Scott said but his eyes behind his glasses were narrowing. If there was one thing he hated it was being played for a fool.

"I can take care of myself," her voice had that note of disinterest in it that told him she was telling the truth.

"I'm sure you can I was just……..fearing he might have used you," Scott laid it all out, waiting for her to take the bait as his suspicion grew. She laughed out loud.

"Honey, he wasn't the one using anybody," laughter was still in her voice.

"Then who was?" Interest but not disbelief in his voice.

"Me. The streets are a rough place. You either get hard or you die. And as you can see…." She let her hands run over her arms and legs "…I'm alive."

"You played him," Scott stated a fact.

"You didn't really think I was that naive, did you?" Rogue snorted at the very thought.

"No. I had hoped……I should have known better," he half-mumbled to himself.

"Why should you have known?" For the first time there was interest in her voice. Scott smiled a dangerous smile at her. Two could play that game.

"Because I lived on the streets when Xavier found me."  
"Really?" doubt was clear in her voice. Scott stood up and went to sit on his desk before her, a smile curving his lips as he drew his t-shirt back from his right shoulder and showed her a tattoo of some kind of gang-like sign and some Chinese writing beneath it.

"Really," he said as he pulled his shirt down again. Rogue sat there, total shock on her face before a smile, a very dangerous smile, began to spread over her lips.

"You played them all. Jean, the professor…….."

"Yes," Scott nodded and she looked up at him.

"What do you want?"  
"What did you want by playing Logan?"  
"To survive."  
"Then so did I," Scott said simply. She stood up and leaned close to him, their faces inches apart. He didn't draw back.

"You're not afraid of me? One touch could kill you, y'know," Rogue warned, her voice dangerous.   
"I doubt it," Scott said lowly before he reached for her and pressed his lips hard against hers. As she began to respond to his kiss he drew back and released his hold on her.  

"How……how did you know?" Rogue mumbled, taking a gloved hand to her lips.  
"You said it yourself; it's all about survival. If everyone believed you were untouchable you gained respect and power quicker than what was normally possible."  
"I *can* suck the life out of people," Rogue mumbled.

"I know you can. You used it on Logan. But you can control it if you want to," Scott said, his voice unreadable.

"So?" She stood up and went around in the room but turned to face him as she asked it.

"So I think you purposely chose Logan as your target. You knew you needed protection and he was foolish enough to give it to you without question. It was never him who used you; it was you who used him," there was a statement of fact in his voice; nothing more.  
"What of you and Jean? You don't love her. Hell, she obviously doesn't love you. You're staying with her to gain something from her. And Xavier? He's free food and board. You don't believe in his 'dream' anymore than I do. We're the same that way," she said and went to the door. He stood up and went to the door as well. He leaned against it so she couldn't open it. His clothes were in contract to his streetwise attitude but he moved with an air about him that made her forget how he was dressed and where they were. It was like they were back on the streets again; playing the games of survival you had to win to get by.

"Yeah, we are," he agreed and played with some of her hair.

"Will you tell the others?" she asked, and leaned in against him, putting her arms around his neck and playing seductively with his hair.

"No. However if you want to play in this game you need to know the rules and one of them is never to tell the truth unless you have to and never, ever tell of your con unless you have control over the one you have told it to. So, do you have control, Rogue?" his voice was low, dangerous and seductive as he leaned towards her and whispered the words in her ear. She froze as she realised she was like a rabbit caught in the headlights; she didn't have control. He had. He had had control all the way.

"You played me," she accused angrily.

"Of course, sweetheart. That's what we do you and I; we trick people. Just be sure for the future that you trick them so they don't trick you," Scott warned before he pulled her into a hard kiss. He all but threw her away from him as he broke the kiss. He walked back towards his desk while she tried to catch her breath.    

"You're a cold hearted son of a bitch," Rogue mumbled.

"And you're a manipulating bitch. That should make us the perfect couple, don't you think?" Scott laughed and she forced a smile, a dangerous smile. He was right. Two could play this game.

"Oh, yes, lov. See you," she said sweetly and blew him a kiss as she exited his office and walked away. The masks has fallen a little today and what she saw behind his mask was very different from the face he showed the others as was hers. Oh, yes. Things had just gotten very interesting!

The End 


End file.
